Continued from last week

So, this young woman is expecting. And so they had again, a big feast kind of before they sent her out of this world. And they had made her new clothes. And they had provided her with some pouches with some dried food – some meat and fruit. And they had also sent some seeds with der as well. And also some musical instruments from the Sky World they were sending with her. Just in case she had found some place she could grow them, she was sent with those seeds, as well.

And they say she went for one last walk through the forest, before they put her down through this hole. And it was, I guess, late spring or early summer when this takes place. And she walks through the forest. And she’s eating the berries that are ripe during that time of year. And they say a lot of the seeds from the year before are catching on her dress as she walks through. And then she comes back to the tree where the hole is in the ground. And again, there’s much sadness in the village. And they lower her down through this hole.

And from where we are today, if we look up at the sky, they say that when they lowered her through that hole, and if we were standing here and we looked up there would be a hole that appeared in the sky. And this woman, all of a sudden just appeared. She was falling down towards the water. So we call her the Sky Woman. That’s where she came from: she fell from the sky, and she’s expecting a child.

At the same time, her new partner was sent to this world as well. But he was changed from the being that he was in the Sky World. He was made a spirit being. He was no longer like a solid human being, like something like you and I are. And his wife, as well, she was a regular solid being like us. And he was sent here. So, he was a spirit being. He was given a couple of more gifts, which were the gift of flight, so he would fly all over this globe of water. And his other gift was, I guess, the ability to throw fire sticks or fire rocks. And his job was to patrol over the surface of the water. And there were already some bird life and other like fur-bearing animals that lived on the water. And he was to patrol over there. And they say also that lived in the bottom or depths of these waters, were great sea monsters or serpents. And they would come up every once in a while and feed on these animals and birds that live on the surface. So this man who could fly and throw these fire sticks was to protect these animals. And whenever he saw the serpents coming towards the surface he would force them back under the ground with hire fire sticks. Sot his was hid job, nonstop all the time.

And he saw hid wife falling from the sky, and she’s expecting a child. And he knows there’s nothing he can do to help her. So, they say, he foes over to some large birds that were sitting on the water. And he tells the whole story to them and asks for their help, if they can help slow her down or stop her galling. So they agree to help. And they all take off and they’re flying up to where this woman in falling. And they’re not quite sure how they’re going to help at all, but they say the leader of these birds kind of flew out in front of the bunch of them. And he told them to split into two groups. So they did. And he told one group to fly off on an angle on the other side of him. So they did. So they’re flying in a V formation. And he said what they were going to do is they’ll fly up underneath her. And she’ll land on their backs and they’ll bring her down to the water.

And he said and figure out something else then.

So they flew up underneath her. And they are in this V. formation. And she does land across their backs and they bring her safely down to the surface of the water. And they say that the birds that we’re talking, today we call them Canada geese. They say that’s where that formation that they fly in, comes form this story. Ands this is the first time that those birds flew in that formation, was to help save this person coming to this world. And they say that story is passed on amongst those winged beings; that they’re proud of what they did to help the earth come to this stage of its existence; that they helped bring safely into the world, the first human being. And they still fly in that formation in honor of their ancestors, the bird ancestors that did that.

Continued next week